11.4 How far can diseases be predicted and mitigated against?

Question 1

identify a disease outbreak at a global scale

Answer 1

Covid-19

Question 2

When did WHO identify the Corona Virus?

Answer 2

January 2020, from the city of Wuhan, China

Question 3

When and why did WHO declare covid-19 a pandemic?

Answer 3

On March 14 as the virus had spread across the globe

Question 4

What were the 2 main ways to tackle the virus during the 2020 pandemic?

Answer 4

Lockdown and quarantine

Question 5

Which countries were best prepared and which were not?

Answer 5

Globally the best prepared were those that had previously confronted similar previous coronaviruses such as Taiwan and South Korea. Whilst some advanced countries had both underestimated and underfunded preparation for the global pandemic

Question 6

What was the initial response by the USA to WHO?

Answer 6

President Trump claimed that it had ‘failed in its basic duty’. The USA later appealed to the WHO for an extra US$1 billion to help fight the virus.

Question 7

Which group of people were most affected by the virus?

Answer 7

Poor people living in high density locations, but also those who needed to work.

Question 8

What was the major issue in tackling the virus in some LIDCs and EDCs?

Answer 8

High urban densities, poverty and pressure on healthcare system made it often a greater challenge. For example, social distancing in slums was very difficult due to high densities, and the necessity of leaving home to make a living. 1 in 7 live in such conditions globally, mainly but not exclusively in LIDCs and EDCs

Question 9

Globally how many have died from Covid-19?

Answer 9

An estimated 6,806,000 as of 2023

Question 10

Compare Covid-19 to H1N1?
1. Symptom onset
2. Age group most impacted
3. Worldwide deaths

Answer 10

1. Symptom onset- sudden after 1 to 4 day & Covid-19 gradual after 2 to 14 days
2. Age group most impacted-people younger than 30 & adults over age 30
3. Worldwide deaths-about 284,000 in the first 12 months & about 2,000,000 in the first 12

Question 11

What are the 4 physical barriers you need to know of?

Answer 11

1. Relief
2. Natural Hazards e.g. earthquakes and tsunamis
3. Remoteness/ Inaccessibility
4. Excess Water supply

Question 12

What impact do physical barriers have on mitigation efforts?

Answer 12

Mitigation efforts of NGOs and governments may be hindered or helped due to physical barriers. With contrasting locations having often very different physical characteristics, some are of importance to mitigation, others are not.

Question 13

Give 2 ways that RELIEF positively impacts mitigation efforts?

Answer 13

1) restricts movement of people and prevents infectious and contagious diffusion
2) This effects climate and so can influence and stop spread of diseases caused by vectors such as mosquitoes e.g. pattern of malaria in Ethiopia

Question 14

Give 2 ways that RELIEF negatively impacts mitigation efforts?

Answer 14

1) Communication difficulties in higher latitudes due to poor infrastructure, often a issue in LIDCs
2) Difficult to access communities to respond to outbreaks as infrastructure like roads are difficult to build on hard terrain. Medicines and air workers can’t get to site quickly.

Question 15

Give 2 ways that NATURAL HAZARDS positively impacts mitigation efforts?

Answer 15

1) Due to larger scale of events, response units often respond quicker, particularly NGOs
2) Damage to infrastructure limits movement of people and so can restrict some types of diffusion

Question 16

Give 2 ways that NATURAL HAZARDS negatively impacts mitigation efforts?

Answer 16

1) Homes/hospitals are destroyed so a large number of people are often displaced into close proximity such as refugee camps which leads to quicker spread of disease
2) Secondary Hazards can delay the arrival of medical aid e.g. In Nepal Gorkha Region, landslides made it unreachable for weeks meaning limited clean water and medical supplies, this allowed for the spread of cholera, usually preventable if vaccines are available

Question 17

Give 2 ways that INACCESSIBILITY positively impacts mitigation efforts?

Answer 17

1) When Ebola virus first appeared in the 1980s in Congo, the communities were so isolated that the disease remained contained
2) Being further from other towns restricts population moving, this reduces the risk of communicable disease due to lack of contact. Tribes in the Amazon were not in contact with Western diseases until the mid-twentieth century

Question 18

Give 2 ways that INACCESSIBILITY negatively impacts mitigation efforts?

Answer 18

1) Populations may not have built natural resistance to western diseases such as influenza for example the Nahua tribe in Peru who are considered to have been wiped out in 1980s by oil explorers who brought diseases
2) Many such communities rely on subsistence farming who are more prone to Zoonotic diseases from their animals

Question 19

Give 2 ways that EXCESS WATER SUPPLY positively impacts mitigation efforts?

Answer 19

1) Bodies of water can act as evacuation routes if air travel isn’t available]
2) In Maryland USA, Chesapeake Bay divides the state in 2 regions during the 1917-38 measles outbreak it acted as a barrier to limit spread

Question 20

Give 2 ways that EXCESS WATER SUPPLY neagtively impacts mitigation efforts?

Answer 20

1) Large volumes of water can mean it becomes stagnant, leading to water borne diseases
2) Flooding can make areas inaccessible to emergency relief efforts, lead to damaging of buildings and so mass evacuation

Question 21

The number of people worldwide that have HIV as of 2019..

Answer 21

36 million

Question 22

On average how many people have HIV in sub-Saharan Africa

Answer 22

1 in 3

Question 23

What % of people with HIV in the USA don’t know they have it?

Answer 23

14%

Question 24

What is AIDs?

Answer 24

Umbrella term for the illnesses that occur due to having untreated HIV, where after several years the body’s immune system is no longer able to fight any infections

Question 25

Name 3 international governments/ initiatives in place to combat HIV/AIDS?

Answer 25

1.UNs MDG
2. UNs 90-90-90
3. Global fund

Question 26

What are the 2 key players combating HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Answer 26

1. National governments
2. International governments/ initiatives

Question 27

How does UN’s millennium development goals aim to target HIV/AIDS, was there any success in this?

Answer 27

MDGs 6a goal was to halt and reverse the spread of HIV by 2015. This was more or less achieved, as between 2001-2012, number of cases fell by 44% between the ages of 15-49. However the goal 6b had limited success where the objective was to achieve universal access for treatment of HIV/AIDs sufferers by 2010

Question 28

What was UNs 90-90-90 goal?

Answer 28

1. 90% of people with HIV will know their status
2. 90% of those with HIV will receive antiretroviral therapy
3. 90% of those receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral supression

Question 29

Was UNs 90-90-90 goal successful?

Answer 29

1. 67% were on antiretroviral therapy
2. developed nations more likely to meet goals
3. End of 2019, 81% knew status

Question 30

Name 3 international governments/ initiatives in place to combat HIV/AIDS?

Answer 30

1.UNs MDG
2. UNs 90-90-90
3. Global fund

Question 31

How is the global fund involved in combating diseases such as HIV/AIDS?

Answer 31

Mobilises and invests more than US$4 billion/yr to support programs run by local experts in more than 100 countries

Question 32

Is HIV easy to control, give 2 examples.

Answer 32

HIV can be difficult to control for even the most developed countries. For example
1. Botswana, one of the most developed countries in sub-Saharan Africa, implemented 2 HIV/AIDS programmes between 2003-2016, whilst substantial progress was made, in 2013 nearly a 1/4 of population aged 15-49 had HIV, whilst 5600 died from a population of 2 million
2. In the USA, nearly 1 million are HIV positive and there are around 55,000 new cases every year

Question 33

On estimate how many live with HIV in South Africa?

Answer 33

South Africa remains the epicentre of the HIV pandemic with around 20.4% of the population being HIV positive. This varies between regions ranging from urban to rural e.g. 12.6% in Western Caper to 27% in Kwazulu-natal

Question 34

How many people in South Africa are on antiretroviral treatment of those who are aware of their HIV status?

Answer 34

92% of which 71% are on treatment

Question 35

In terms of gender, who is most affected by HIV in South Africa? and what are the reasons?

Answer 35

In 2017, 26% of women were estimated to have HIV compared to men who had 15%. Women are disproportionately affected perhaps due to poverty, low status of women and gender based violence

Question 36

What has the South African Government done to prevent HIV/AIDS?

Answer 36

1. 2017- government allocated an extra 207 billion rand to total health expenditure to combat HIV/AIDS
2. In Dec of 2015, SA became the first country in Sub-Saharan Africa to fully approve PrEP, a preventative drug for e.g. those who may be active drug users. In 2019, an estimated 23k-24k used it in 2019
3. Education is limited and only 5% of schools were given comprehensive education on sexuality education in 2016. The government aimed to increase this to 50% in high burden areas over time.

Question 37

Give 2 ways the South African government has implemented diagnosis?

Answer 37

1. 89% of infants were tested within 6 weeks of birth although transmission is still high at 14,000 in 2018
2. ‘test&treat’ strategy where all those regardless of how advanced HIV was, were eligable for treatment

Question 38

Give 2 ways the South African government has implemented treatment?

Answer 38

1. SA has the largest antiretroviral therapy programme in the world and in 2018, UNAIDs estimated that 4.8 million were using it
2. 88% of pregnant women tested and 87% of those positive were given ART

Question 39

How many women were on ART compared to men?

Answer 39

65% of women living with HIV received treatment compared to only 56% of men

Question 40

Name 3 factors that limit success of mitigation

Answer 40

1. Poverty
2. Cultural Attitudes
3. Remoteness

Question 41

If a mitigation strategy is successful it should be successful for all:

Answer 41

1. Demographics
2. Economic- finances shouldn’t be a barrier
3. Spatial- success should be at all scales